Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Kenyan Chicken Curry

New Curries is one of the latest in the series of Women's Weekly Cookbooks. It certainly seems that there is probably at least one of these cookbooks in every household here in Australia. We've all turned to their pages for reliable recipes that work.

Don't let the length of the ingredient list dissuade you from trying this curry. Once you have the ingredients organised the process is actually pretty simple and the dish is ready in 30 minutes.

My only complaint is in the photograph used to accompany this dish. There's no way that the dish pictured could have been produced by following the recipe. I'm used to that being the case with Donna Hay but it's disappointing to see that the ever reliable AWW has succumbed to styling versus substance.

Make the marinade:Place the marinade ingredients into a bowl and stir well to combine. Add the chicken, mix thoroughly to ensure they are well coated. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Cook Chicken:Preheat oven to 240°C.Place the chicken into a lightly oiled dish and bake, uncovered for 10 minutes.

Make Curry:Heat the oil in a large pan (a wok works well). Add the onions, chilli powder, fenugreek, ginger, garlic and turmeric. Stir well and cook until the onions soften.Add the tomatoes, cinnamon stick, green chillies and lemon juice. Simmer, covered for 10 minutes.Add the cream and honey, stirring well and simmer, uncovered for 5 minutes.

Add the chicken to the curry, simmer until the chicken is cooked, about 5 - 10 minutes.

13 comments:

Haalo,You need not be concerned about the AWW succumbing to the pressure of food styling, for your photos are always gorgeous. I'm truly very envious of your talents. Is the curry really from Kenya? Does the AWW give a history of this dish?

Thanks Shaun for those lovely comments. They do give a little history of Kenyan cusine - a fusion of sorts, influenced by it's trading history. This recipe is Swahili in origin, a fusion of middle eastern and indian flavours.

Hi Haalo... I just read your posting about the Donna Hay recipe. I tried one of her recipes from her magazine last Sunday. It was so true what you said. I wouldn't be able to produce the golden colour skin (like on the photo) on the chicken without pan frying it first then bake it with the other ingredients. That step was not mentioned in the recipe. I told my mom inlaw that I won't buy that DH magazine anymore as I cannot trust the recipe. The taste was nice tho... but the chicken looked anemic.

Hi Haalo,i beg to differ with city love, i am kenyan and i can tell you for a fact this is a swahili chicken curry - good job. Swahili cuisine is greatly influenced by middle eastern and indian cuisines hence the similarity to indian cuisine.

This sounds wonderful, but I have a question: When it says "On a scale of 1 to 10,this curry rates" and the gives a picture of five peppers, is supposed to be expressing an opinion of how much you (or someone else) liked it, or is that a "heat rating"?